Recommendations, Finance, Identity, Relationships, Wisdom
John Beeson
This Week's Recommendations

  1. How much money do I need for retirement? A helpful article from Life Institute no matter how old you are.

  2. Sin causes anxiety, too: Casey McCall with a helpful article reflecting on connection (sometimes) between sin and anxiety, “Christians today would do well to consider sin as a possible cause of mental illness even as we follow Murray’s advice to avoid pinning all mental illness on sin.”

This Week's Recommendations
Biblical Studies, Spiritual Growth, Theology, Wisdom
John Beeson
David's Worst Sin

What was David’s worst sin? Every Sunday School child knows the answer to that question: his adultery with Bathsheba and murder of her husband Uriah (2 Sam. 11-12).

There’s no doubt that David’s double sin against Bathsheba and Uriah is heinous. Following David’s sin, his family begins to implode. David’s son Amnon rapes his daughter, Tamar, Absalom murders Amnon in response and then attempts to overthrow his father and is ultimately killed. David’s sin was a direct violation of two of the most sacred moral laws: adultery and murder, and his family or reign would never be the same.

David's Worst Sin
Recommendations, Family, Marriage, Relationships, Religion
John Beeson
This Week's Recommendations

  1. Faithfulness in an inside-out world: This is a good one from Andrew Noble, In today’s age, people are to find out what’s inside first, and then they are to express it outward. Charles Taylor describes this as “a culture of authenticity.”

  2. Fight brain rot by reading books: This one is written to Gen Z, but applies to everyone. Luke Simon writes, “What surprised me most was how different reading was from scrolling. My phone had trained me to skim, to consume quickly, and to expect instant gratification. Books demanded something deeper: focus, patience, and the willingness to sit with ideas that don’t immediately resolve.”

This Week's Recommendations
Forgiveness, Relationships, Wisdom
John Beeson
Aslan Was Wrong

Like so many others, The Chronicles of Narnia is one of my favorite fiction series of all time. CS Lewis masterfully gives us insight into the heart of Christ and our relationship with him through the figure of Aslan. The tales teach us unforgettable truths about us about friendship, courage, and redemption.

Lewis brilliantly captures the weight of our sin against God. The figure of Aslan helps us see the price Christ paid to atone for our wrongdoings. Near the conclusion of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe we watch an interaction that gives us insight into the cost of our sin.

Aslan Was Wrong
Christian Living, Forgiveness, Relationships, Spiritual Growth
John Beeson
How to Apologize

We live in an apology-averse culture.

We are allergic to repentance and forgiveness alike.

Think about it. When was the last time someone repented to you? I mean, truly repented?

The last time a congregant apologized to me, the email began this way (I’ve tweaked it only to protect the one who sent it), “I might have been a little harsh in my email.. I had a very bad week…” In further communication, the individual referenced their apology. I scratched my head. “When did they apologize?” I dug back through the email thread and saw those phrases. That is what they were referencing.

How to Apologize

Death

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. Is Evangelicalism Today Truly Evangelical? It’s a good question Michael Reeves asks. His answer? Not very. “In country after country, we hear stories of abusive and self-serving evangelical leaders. And they are surely only the more noticeable symptoms of a deeper malaise. The same spiritual emptiness that causes dramatic and high-profile falls from grace also stifles heartfelt worship in the pew.”

  2. Does Romans 7 Describe a Christian? John Piper considers whether Paul’s depiction of his struggle against sin is when he was a follower of Jesus or not. “This is a response to the objection from Romans 7:24. Can a real Christian cry out,’“Who will set me free from the body of this death?” To which my response is, Can a real Christian not cry out, ‘Who will set me free from this body of death’?”

  3. If God Really Loved Me, He Would… Sarah Walton begins, “Why are we surprised when trials come? Why do we quickly question God’s goodness, love, and control when we experience the pain of this world? For me, I think it’s because there is a pervasive belief that subtly infiltrates my thought life. One that, deep down, still believes God would keep me from harm and rescue me from pain if he truly loved me.

  4. When Good Things Spiritually Harm Our Kids: Melissa Edgington considers the threat of good things to our kids’ souls. She says, “No true Christian who is a parent would ever in a million years say that an extra-curricular is worth their child’s soul. Yet, what seems like no big deal can result in a lifetime of faithlessness.”

  5. Detailed View of a Crater on Mars: The wonders in our universe!

  6. The Russell Moore Show Podcast: Rachel Denhollander Calls for a Southern Baptist Reckoning: Russell Moore and Rachel Denhollander reflect on the devastating investigation.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. The Universe Demands a Cross: This post by Samuel James is brilliant and moving. Please read it. Here is a taste, “The sterilized metaphysics of Western spirituality, the liturgies of eat-pray-love, are sieves when it comes to the bloodiness of reality. I could, if I chose, close my eyes and insist on believing in the inherent goodness of man, the brotherhood of all, and the common destiny of all but the worst people. But I could not close my eyes hard enough to un-see the blood of vaginal delivery. The blood does not merely sit there. It calls out, just as the blood of Abel cried “out from the ground.” It calls out for reckoning.”

  2. 200 People Left Our Small Church: my friend Benjamin Vrbicek asks, “How does a pastor keep his heart from growing cynical when, over 350 weeks of pastoring the same church, I have lost an average of one person each week? And why are these congregants leaving our church anyway? What role might I play, even unintentionally, in sending sheep to what they perceive to be greener pastures?”

  3. An Open Letter to Death: Cindy Matson begins, “Dear Death, I’m writing to you today with a simple message: Stop boasting. I realize that you have some reason for pride. You have had your way with nearly every human to ever live. (Do Enoch and Elijah keep you up at night?)”

  4. True Humanism: Jesus, Marx, or Jenner? Bruce Ashford considers the options to Christianity in contemporary culture, “[T]hese thought leaders often pose as anthropologists who find Christianity dehumanizing and as tea-leaf readers who discern in the anfractuosities of history a movement toward a more “humanized,” Christ-less future.”

  5. Tom Brady in Retirement: Football fans out there will enjoy this.

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This Week's Recommendations

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This Week's Recommendations

  1. The Universe Demands a Cross: This post by Samuel James is brilliant and moving. Please read it. Here is a taste, “The sterilized metaphysics of Western spirituality, the liturgies of eat-pray-love, are sieves when it comes to the bloodiness of reality. I could, if I chose, close my eyes and insist on believing in the inherent goodness of man, the brotherhood of all, and the common destiny of all but the worst people. But I could not close my eyes hard enough to un-see the blood of vaginal delivery. The blood does not merely sit there. It calls out, just as the blood of Abel cried “out from the ground.” It calls out for reckoning.”

  2. 200 People Left Our Small Church: my friend Benjamin Vrbicek asks, “How does a pastor keep his heart from growing cynical when, over 350 weeks of pastoring the same church, I have lost an average of one person each week? And why are these congregants leaving our church anyway? What role might I play, even unintentionally, in sending sheep to what they perceive to be greener pastures?”

  3. An Open Letter to Death: Cindy Matson begins, “Dear Death, I’m writing to you today with a simple message: Stop boasting. I realize that you have some reason for pride. You have had your way with nearly every human to ever live. (Do Enoch and Elijah keep you up at night?)”

  4. True Humanism: Jesus, Marx, or Jenner? Bruce Ashford considers the options to Christianity in contemporary culture, “[T]hese thought leaders often pose as anthropologists who find Christianity dehumanizing and as tea-leaf readers who discern in the anfractuosities of history a movement toward a more “humanized,” Christ-less future.”

  5. Tom Brady in Retirement: Football fans out there will enjoy this.

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